Reacting to the light

Reacting to the Tree

⬅Pre-Stage

⬅Stage

⬅Countdown

⬅Green light

⬅Red light

   In drag racing, the sequence of lights you always see at the starting line of a official drag strip is called the tree. The tree tells each driver when to leave the starting line. There are two types of trees in drag racing. These would be a traditional and a pro tree. Today we will talk about the traditional tree.

Pre-Stage and Staging

    The first 4 bulbs you see at the top of the tree are all based on where you are lined up on the starting line. you first roll into the pre stage beam, breaking the invisible beam will cause the first set of bulbs to turn on. Then, you would prepare yourself for the race before inching your car forward, to just barely break the second invisible beam. This causing the second set of bulbs to turn on, thus starting the countdown sequence. 

Countdown and Leaving the line

    On the traditional tree, the countdown lights will each individually turn on every .500 seconds until the Green light. If you leave the line before the green light turns on, then you lose the race unless, the other driver also leaves on yellow. Then only the person with the worst early jump would receive an infraction and it would be treated as a heads up race